Formation In January 1967, Puckett and Dwight Bement formed Gary and the Remarkables with
Kerry Chater (August 7, 1945 – February 4, 2022, bass), Gary 'Mutha' Withem (born August 22, 1944, keyboards), and Paul Wheatbread (born February 8, 1946, drums). The break came for the group when
Jerry Fuller, a former country music artist and a producer for Columbia Records in
Los Angeles, heard them at a small bar where they were performing in a bowling alley complex. Fuller liked their sound and signed them to a contract.
Initial success They were now going under the name Gary Puckett & The Union Gap and would be known for hits such as "
Lady Willpower", "
Young Girl" and "
Woman, Woman". They sold more records in 1968 than any other group and had six consecutive gold records as well as making two appearances on
The Ed Sullivan Show (1968, 1971). Their song "Woman, Woman" was an adaptation of the country hit by the
Glaser Brothers called "Girl, Girl". On records, they wore Civil War outfits, as suggested by Puckett, and called themselves the Union Gap after the
Union Gap area where Puckett had lived. The band was nominated for a
Grammy Award for
Best New Artist in 1969, losing out to
José Feliciano.
Split and reformation The group eventually grew unhappy with doing material written and produced by others, leading them to stop working with
Fuller, and they disbanded in 1971. Gary re-formed the band sometime in the early 1980s and, since signing to them in 1984, has performed with them at the yearly "Happy Together" tours, alongside
Howard Kaylan and
Mark Volman of
The Turtles (who started up the tour),
The Association,
The Cowsills,
Ron Dante of
The Archies,
Chuck Negron of
Three Dog Night,
The Buckinghams,
The Box Tops,
The Vogues, and
The Classics IV. As of around 2012, their current line-up consists of Puckett, Woody Lingle (bass), Jamie Hilboldt (keyboards), and Mike Candito (drums). The Union Gap's "Greatest Hits" album was one of
CBS' best selling "Collector Series" albums. In 1974 "
Young Girl" was reissued in the
UK where it reached number five and achieved a Silver Record Award for the second time. == Solo career ==